The need for personal heating and cooling devices is apparent. Everyone empathizes with a highway construction worker as they drive by on a 90+ degree day. Personalized heating and cooling is also necessary for those who are unable to regulate their body temperature. The elderly or invalids may have trouble keeping warm due to frailty, limited activity, or medication. A poor or inconsistent power grid may also prevent a person from being able to survive comfortably in their surrounding (see Kuchofuku's air-conditioned bed and clothing line).
There are many devices that have been designed to provide an individual personal heating and cooling options (U.S. Pat. No. 3,736,927; RE 36,242; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,125,636; 6,823,678; 6,915,641; and 8,602,855, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0306433). Many of these devices have been included in garments and are portable. Heating and cooling options in some of these devices use caustic chemicals or emit noxious fumes. Further, many are unobtainable by the average worker because of their expense or impractical because of their limited operating time.
A need remains for an affordable, long lasting personal heating and cooling device. The device should be simple and practical for use by the average person.
All patents, patent applications, provisional patent applications and publications referred to or cited herein, are incorporated by reference in their entirety to the extent they are not inconsistent with the teachings of the specification.